The pharmaceutical product marketing industry is very large, estimated at more than $25 billion per year and this emphasises the need for a pharmaceutical company to be active and effective in the arena. It is simply not good enough for the organisation to be on the cutting edge of its game, and ground-breaking when it comes to the delivery and dissemination of new products to the market, unless it is sharply attentive to marketing in this highly competitive marketplace. While the healthcare industry always seems to be a growth industry, there is an increasing amount of more focused competition and the company fails to concentrate on its marketing strengths at its peril.
The healthcare industry touches almost every individual in the country at some stage and due to its sheer size, drug spending is always a subject of great attention. Within the healthcare industry, the total amount spent on pharmaceuticals accounts for 15% of the entire budget and it therefore follows that due to the high stakes associated, a lack of marketing proficiency can have significant repercussions.
For the pharmaceutical company, its sales force is at the sharp end and spends much of its time interacting directly with the professional, the practitioner and the advisor. Positive interaction between the sales executive and the professional is essential for progress. As the executive engages with the professional, a lot of time and effort can be put into trying to achieve a result, but as the practitioner is often turned off to marketing practices and advances, this can be a ‘tough nut to crack.’
Often times, the healthcare professional, being highly educated and focused, wants to rely on scientific papers, advice from colleagues within the industry, or his or her own training and first-hand experience. There is a danger that he or she could believe that the pharmaceutical company sales executive has but one motive in mind and as such, the sales executive requires fairly advanced communication and marketing skills to succeed.
The pharmaceutical industry is maturing constantly and with advances in medicine comes the need for a much higher level of education at the sales executive team level. These complex dynamics worry the pharmaceutical company chiefs, especially as they have enough to fill a plate with regard to product development, lobbying activities, regulatory enforcement, adherence and economic constraints. In these times, many turn to pharmaceutical consulting firms to advise them and principally, to steer and educate their sales forces.
Generally, pharmaceutical consultants have a great deal of first-hand experience within the market and specifically with regard to dealing first-hand with professionals and end users. They can advise about correct motivation and the proper balance of training versus direct, “feet on the street” time. In most cases, pharma consulting can help to instil the correct amount of urgency within the sales staff member, while helping to ensure that the team works across different tangents. Not only must the executive understand the best interests of the employer, but he or she must seek the trust and acceptance of the professional at this most critical stage in the product life-cycle. True balance is required to ensure that motivation works through training to reveal the correct way forward.
Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.